Shadows of Brightwater

We promise we won't go Battlestar Galactica on you

DRAFT

The heroes easily handled the orc warlord Wrongeye and her entourage. Afterword Dalkon conveyed them to the Skye Monastery.

The ancient monk Kaladrian informed them that Atticus was on a diplomatic mission to the local tribes to maintain the many treaties the monastery relies on for safety and that he was expected back in a few days. We learned about the monks’ philosophy and how Dierdre Skye achieved enlightenment some time ago, becoming immortal and immutable. They describe her as the one unchanging thing in an ever-changing world. (The monastery consists of approximately a 9:1 ratio of support and enlightenment seekers.)

The party relaxed and explored the monastery. Wesley went to the hot springs to relax. Crugold went to the library to exchange information with the monks. Gibley went to the kitchen to exchange recipes. Finn and Sorcha had a snack and then went to the Fields of Trials to exchange fighting tech.

Gibley had also noticed that Nix had wandered off. Nix wandered to the hot springs Wesley was soaking in and seemingly pulled a bow from the water. Nix got super creepy. Then he made himself invisible. Wesley got out of the hot spring and followed Nix. Gibley disrobed and got in the hot spring.

Meanwhile Finn and Sorcha are hanging out with the monks. The monks ask if Sorcha could work with them on practice weapons with which to talk/learn about fighting with hammers. The students spar with Finn. Finn takes off his extra equipment but still finds the students not to be particularly challenging to him.

Crugold explores the grounds…

Wesley continues to follow Nix who seems to be headed towards the gates out of town…

Also, sorry about killing your dudes.

The heroes fought and then talked with a storm giant named Dalkon (though we called him many other things). Dalkon killed Callie with single well-placed (and enormous) arrow during the battle, but we took down his two stone giant buddies.

Dalkon declared he was an enemy of orcs only and had no quarrel with us. We negotiated with him to have him transport us to and from the Sky Monastery. We also agreed to help him take out an Orc named Wrongeye. We resurrected one of his buddies and set up an ambush for the party Dalkon had mistaken us for.

A bizarre orc-demon hybrid of some sort came out first, shortly followed by a female orc with long shaggy knotted hair interwoven with beads, rings and bones, and carrying a large great-sword across her back. She was flanked by orcish warriors.

... and then we defeated an elemental!

Not knowing what the disposition of the approaching fire breathing something was, Sorcha shot it with her bow causing it to shriek and charge us. It proved a formidable opponent but we were well prepared and equipped and lost little to the attack.

Nothing followed the creature, leaving us wondering who had summoned it and whether they cared what its impact had or had not been. However, we were still waiting for Callie so that was our primary concern. After some discussion Crugold disappeared and went looking for Callie. He came back with news that she had gone through the ground into some other tunnels but there was no evidence she had perished.

We decided to wait (and rest) and she eventually returned. She said she had bartered passage with the local orcish tribe, the Bonesplitters. She led us down several more tunnels and out the other side. We were overlooking a harsh rocky valley. Callie pointed out a light on the other side which is the location of a small homestead we would stable our horses at in a day and a half.

The group wrapped up in Laedry, speaking with Attin, captain Theleos and ultimately we were unsatisfied with the conclusion of the cultish plot but so no way for us to make any further progress.

The team resumed their quest to find Finn’s uncle Atticus by looking for him at the Sky Monastary. We hired a guide named Callie to escort us up the mountains. The first day was fine except for a few incidents, possibly with some fae taking an interest in Wesley. On the second day the weather turned nasty so Callie led us underground into the territory of the Bonesplinter orcs. A few miles in we came to a spot where Callie was confused by the shapes of the tunnels. She instructed us to stay put and be wary of giants and such, then she turned into a small burrowing mammal and took off. Gibley decided to try to chase after her. Wesley silenced the area.

After a few minutes we saw a light coming from far down the tunnel from whence we had arrived at our current locale. As it drew closer some of the party were able to identify the light as flames inside some kind of toothed mouth.

Our heroes searched the sewer complex of the cultist for clues and loot. We also went through the Rising Son and found a non-magical golden fish.

From Attin we obtained the general plan of the cult and determined we had set their plan back considerably if not disrupted it completely.

Wesley went back to Captain Theleus of the guard to give him most of the information and have his people take over the rest of the investigation. When Attin learned that the captain was sending guards to the various locations he mentioned that the alchemical factory had a gorgon for defense.

The party hurried to the scene to contain the damage but not in time to save all the guards. Attin demonstrated his willingness to help as well as his capabilities by disappearing and then backstabbing the gorgon. The gorgon immediately knocked him down but Wesley brought him back.

At some point before Attin mentioned the gorgon Finn wandered off without anyone noticing…

Seems suspicious...

Plumbing the depths of the sewers below Laedry, our heroes discovered a hideout of the local Cult of Narul. They fought a guardian which took the form of a sort of animated mist of blood as well as some of the cultists and the golems they animated.

After subduing the cultists we talked the one named Attin into turning over a new leaf. There was another survivor among the cultists. Attin convinced him to relinquish his golem activation codes.

It was .. assaulted.

Gibley and Finn went over to the brothel Finn identified. Gibley was able to get some information out of the brothel’s owner, “Clayton.”

Further research suggested the quarry had gone underground into the sewer system. The adventurers entered the sewer about a block from where they believed their quarry had entered from. They fought a giant slug, then intentionally triggered a mechanism which flushed the sewers into a lower sewer system. They proceeded through a room and into another tunnel. They see some light coming from around a corner ahead. Gibley sneaks up and peeks around the corner with a mirror. He can see at least four women standing still wearing diaphanous gowns.

The Street Hawk: "The Truth Is Easy To Sell"

We continued to explore the chambers of the late head of The of Necromancy at the Arcane University. We put a huge stack of gold in a hole. We found a holy symbol to Narul, some spellbooks, a secret panel containing a mysterious magical tome and then the faculty interrupted us.

Wesley ran interference and asked a few questions. They demonstrated more interest in the sanctity of the college’s independence from outside law. Wesley asked how responsible they were for the professor’s exploits and that scared ’em off. Wesley promised to return any evidence found when the investigation is concluded.

Crugold found a receipt for some alchemical materials bought in bulk, including the ingredients for the explosion which opened up the prison. We also found a list of dates, times and symbols. The dates and times matched events we knew of which allowed us to guess at the meanings of the symbols, which all seemed to refer to locations. One of the dates was four days in the future and the symbol next to it looked like a sun rising or setting.

Having exhausted ourselves and the office we retired to a new inn. On our way Finn borrowed some money from Gibley and slipped away. He went to the Tanner’s Table to ask Nix about the dates, times and symbols. Nix was difficult, but eventually admitted someone had dropped a similar piece of paper next to him and he had grabbed it. He sold the paper to one of the news papers.

Next Finn went to the Hound’s Tooth and asked Jenna about the golem we fought. Jenna recognized her as one of the victims. Jenna also suggested the symbol for the next meeting might refer to a particular brothel that is lit by the cathedral at night in a way which looks like that symbol.

Finn returned to the group and related most of what he had found. Then he and Gibley went to the Street Hawk. Before they got there Gibley asked Finn to rough him up. Gibley went in to the office with a story about the Crown Crier roughing him up for info. The manager believes it and writes up new copy about the Curfew Cutter not operating alone and how there’s still an evil cabal at work.

Crugold and Sorcha did some shopping and research.

Westey went back to check in with the Captain of the Guard, who didn’t have much to say except that there’s probably more going on, and that he’s worried about the spread of disease in Laedry. He also said to visit Wesley’s sister, which Wesley did.

Gibley and Finn went to the Cathedral of Paylor to see how folks reacted to the Street Hawk’s news ruffled the feathers of folks near the cathedral. While Gibley was picking pockets Finn saw some hooded figures scurrying into a carriage.

Inside the necromancy department, that is.

We talked to some palace guards. Then was alerted to an unusual body in the dungeons which turned out to be Gibley’s acquaintance from Thief Club.

Based on the information available, we came to the conclusion that the murders were part of a larger plot led at least in part by the head of the necromancy department.

We decided to confront the necromancy department itself. We used the identification we had acquired from students to worm our way in. Working our way through the department we came to the office of the late department head which contained a large stack of gold bars. A voice from behind a door asked if were were The Master. We failed to bluff it, but Finn and Sorcha quickly dispatched it.

(There was some business about disease and blindness but we took care of that.)

A modest proposal: "why does evil have to be bad?"

We “stormed the castle” with the objective of foiling the rescue of Wesley’s nephew. Finn led us into a secret passage into the dungeons below. There was only an oil lantern for light, but it turned out to be because we were in an anti-magic field. We pressed on and then heard a large explosion. Pressing forward we came outside to find ourselves on a deserted beach with signs of a recent departure.

Crugold joined us then with scrolls in hand to cure us of our maladies. To find the recent departies he summoned a celestial squid which shot out into the water and marked the boat we were looking for. Crugold marked it some more and all of us went to town making life miserable for the occupants. Sorsha and Wesley took care of those who came to shore and the others took care of those on the boat.

In the process we killed a high-ranking member of the school of necromancy as well as some students. One of the victims was a half-elf who was probably Wesley’s nephew.

We broke into an arcane library managed by the head of the necromancy department of the arcane university.

Gibley and Crugold were already there.

Inside we fought an apprentice and a gollum, but were victorious. We were unable to extract any information out of the apprentice. We devised a plan to enter the castle. Gibley was enlarged and disguised himself as the royal historian Sir Richard Durban. Once on the castle island we noticed there was some kind of silence spell at work.

We convince the guards to let us in, but Sorcha was too slow and didn’t make it under the gate. Shortly after “Sir Richard Durban” cast a “shrink person” spell on himself.

Meanwhile Crugold flew to the other side of town to recover his levels.

Squigly to the rescue!

Crugold and Gibley were sneaking into a creepy necromantic laboratory. After
following someone they thought might know something about the murders of women
in the town of Laedry they were discovered. They overheard some conversation
of a plan for the night which would ready them for their Big Plan. The
conversants chased our heroes up the stairs. The made it to the lawn, but
things went sideways. Gibley killed the less experienced caster but the more
experienced caster suffocated Gibley.

Crugold’s familiar Squigly the Destructor (our viper VIP) escaped and was
picked up by a mysterious woman, ‘Lita’, who brought Squigly to the rest of us
and told us 1) our friends are being held captive in a place and one of them
is dead and 2) Westley’s nephew will be broken out of prison by his cultish
companions later tonight.

Finn and Sorcha went to meet Callie outside town to let her know we’d be delayed but would pay her while she waits. She made it clear she insists on being in charge. (She’s also a half-orc with a familiarity with the wilds.)

Also, on the way back from visiting with Callie they ran into the two priests Nix had mentioned. Things… didn’t go Nix’s way.

Meanwhile Wesley, Crugold and Gibley looked into the cult which supposedly recruited Wesley’s nephew. Wesley made a nuisance of himself while looking into the purported meeting location while the other two watched who noticed. Gibley met up with a woman he had been in contact with before. She said the constabulary had already scared away those who used to meet under the bridge. She said they consider themselves “a family who would do anything for each other that you (Gibley) would do for your friends.”

Wesley sought out an expert on local history and architecture. Gibley and Crugold noted someone taking an interest in Wesley’s questions and followed him to the local campus. They pulled some shenanigans and were able to follow him past the magical gate.

The Ghost of...Eww

Our brave adventurers returned to The Stetland Pony, conversing with Sir Richard along the way and after arriving. He is the royal historian for his majesty King Kanlos. He is a truther who believes Kanlos was complicit in, if not the cause of, the former king’s death. He’s greatful and will pay us for the rescue when we get back.

Our conversation was interrupted when a villager told us of a ghost of a dead farmer making trouble. We put the monster back down.

Gibley won the “most possessable halfling” award.

We headed back to Laedry where Sorcha made another “deposit”. We learned that The Curfew Cutter had been Caught. It turned out to be Wesley’s nephew Andrian. Wesley discussed the matter with his sister. She acknowledged that he and the people he had fallen in with had in fact killed women, but that he was merely a victim of the cult. She said they tend to meet after midnight under the western end of the main bridge.

The next day there were some preparations to head north to the Sky Monastery. The group is paying the guide 2gp per day for the job, including the wait to get started. We are told the trip will take 3 days in each direction.

But Wesley insists on sticking around to get to the bottom of the Curfew Cutter Mystery…

Into the cave. Sorcha commented that some sort of creature dug the tunnel. Gibley spotted orc sentries trying to hide from us. Some of us spotted non-combatant orcs at the far side of a cavern. A booming voice (Sir Richard Durban) called out to us requesting aid. We fought the sentries and two land sharks. Sir Richard threw up a flame wall to hold the rest of the orcs at bay while we made our escape. Above ground he told us the orcs ate the rest of the party and used him to lure giants. The cleric was the leader but the guy with the symbol on his head was actually in charge. The symbol represents The Sky Monastery though he had never heard of the monastery training evil people. He said he thinks they were leading giants into human lands before they used him to do it but have been more effective with him.

Too many syllables!

Early Spring, North East of Leadry

Crugold located Mazzie after she had scouted ahead for giants but found orcs instead. We charged in and killed them. There was a half-orc monk with a crosshatch symbol in his forehead and an orcish priest of Grunch who had destroyed one of his eyes to gain power.

One of the giant hearts which appeared to be part of an impending ritual was deadened by Crugold’s cloud kill spell.

Gibley had exclaimed that he saw the Rael Ravisher and alarmed the bar. A large group of patrons look outside but don’t find anything.

Wesley stayed up through the night talking to bar patrons to gather information about the Rael Ravisher, but did not get any worthwhile information. He found that the curfew isn’t because of the serial killer, but because of the old king’s death 6 years ago.

Crugold gives the party a few potions. He also provides Finn with a Monk’s Robe.

The party goes to meet with Mazzy at the Golden Goblet to talk about the giant problem. She says that the giants are worth two thousand a head and the bounty would be split 6 ways. The party gets their horses and meet Mazzy / Siegfried on the road.

The group makes it to the village Stetlen and check into the single inn in the town. The group talks to people at the inn and are told to go north to find the giants. Up north, the group finds a wreck of a farmhouse. Giants had thrown rocks at the place. Upon further inspection, it is found that the rocks are volcanic, as in rock that would be exposed after an earthquake.

The party sets up a trap in a small ravine with bear traps while Mazzy scouts around. She brings back 3 giants into the ravine. Gibley is able to get a sneak attack in on one. Mazzy casts a lightning bolt with her lance at two of the giants. Wesley casts Spear of Purity at the unwounded giant. Sorsha misses that giant with her readied arrow, but hits with the second one.

A giant gets stuck in a bear trap and Finn tries to entangle it with his net and misses. The larger giant casts Transmute Earth to Mud, catching Gibley in the effect. Gibley moves out of the mud and flanks the giant Finn is attacking. Mazzy misses the giant as well.

Sorsha hits her giant multiple times with her hammer. The giant hits Sorsha back.

Crugold casta a swarm of spiders between Sorsha’s giant and the one who casted the mud spell.

Crugold goes to the Arcane University. The buildings on the grounds have some sort of enchantment to be invisible. He notices Daruna’s tower is located on the grounds. He asks a man about it, who confirms that Daruna is visiting and she has made herself another tower.

Gibley believes that the symbol in his pocket matches with the bar that he is in. He shows the bartender the piece of paper covertly and is told to exit via another door. Gibley is ambushed by a cloaked human and they talk. Gibley is informed that there are no gangs or thieves guilds in Llaedry and is wished the best of luck.

Finn goes to the Tanner’s Table in search of Nixx. He inquires with the barkeep about Nixx’s location. Nixx was banned from the bar due to a 27 gold tab. Nixx sleeps outside the bar, near the trash.

Sorsha is approached by a guard after using the Altar of Erythnul as a toilet. She takes offense at a question asked by the guard and attacks him. She then breaks his axe after he drinks a potion and casts a spell on himself. She sunders a second weapon of his and bashes him to the ground, then leaves the building.

Wesley goes to meet the Captain of the Guard, who turns out to be the oldest elf that he has ever seen. He asks about his sister, who came through on a military caravan. Wesley tells the captain the party’s story about Brightwater, the captain says that he will ask around. The captain asks Wesley to look into the murders in Llaedry.

Crugold visits Daruna at her new tower. She has a new familiar, which is a tiny dragon. They briefly talk about what the party did in Redford. She did not know about Rathonel, but knew about the dragon attack.

The party is united at the Hounds Tooth to trade stories. Finn brought Nixx along to buy him a drink and ask about Uncle Atticus. The party asks Nixx about his fiddle, which makes him angry.

Nixx hasn’t seen Atticus and offers to ask around. He notes that he hasn’t seen Atticus in 15 years. The last time he saw Atticus, he was helping him leave the city quietly. Nixx says that Atticus said that he would owe him a big favor. Nixx knows Atticus is from the Sky Monastery and is probably staying there. The monastery is in the mountains to the North and would take a week’s journey to get there with a guide. Nixx says he knows a guide named Callie, who is from the mountains.

Nixx asks for a favor from the party. Two priests of a travelling god somehow cheated Nixx out of a reward. Finn tells Nixx he might look into this later, but the party is looking into multiple jobs at this time.

The party headed north to Llaedry, the capital city of Oleand, with the ladies of the ex-Silver Unicorn. While travelling with the group and stopping in small towns, the party learned some information:

- Castle Kanlos is built on an artificial island in the center of the river, with bridges to the east and west.
- The western side of the city was destroyed 10 years ago by a Tharn invasion. The Tharn were unable to take the castle, so they sacked the town instead. It has since been rebuilt. The east side is is considered more upscale, because of this.
- King Liam died 6 years ago. King Raglos is the new king, but he is in Old Vikram fighting the Tharn. The Lord of the North is running Llaedry at this time.
- The capital city has a curfew, set up by the Lord of the North, due to a murderer. Only those who have legitimate business may be allowed to walk around town in the evening.

Other notable areas of town:

- The Golden Goblet – This is a tavern set up for travelling merchants. Often a place where mercenaries can find work. Also where Thenn told the party that they could find Mazzy Fentan for a reward.
- The Tanner’s Table – The other major tavern in town. This is where Finn was told to find Nixx in a letter by his Uncle Atticus.
- Craftworks – A place where gnomes and dwarves work and trade.
- Cathedral of Pelor – An impressive temple made largely of glass.
- There are also temples for all common dieties in the capitol.

The party arrives in Llaedry. Jenna and Finn went to meet Sander of the Houndstooth Inn. Jenna is able to secure lodging for the travelling group at the Houndstooth. She also informs the group that there is a serial killer at large (called the Rael Ravisher), who has killed 4 women on the west side of town. The party is asked to check with the Captain of the Guard to get more details. Finn helps the refugees move into their new home.

The party goes to the elf area of town, called Treehome. Treehome has a large tree in the center of the area, which is now dead. It has also been defaced with symbols of Erythnul. The group learns that there are temples to both Corellon Larethon and Erythnul.

The party stays the night at the Houndstooth deciding on the following:
1. Get paid by Mazzy Fentan at the Golden Goblet
2. Meet Nixx at the Tanner’s Table
3. Gather information about the serial killer, the Rael Ravisher.
4. Wesley to find information about his sister.

After the first night, the group went to the Golden Goblet to meet Mazzy for rescuing Thenn. They inquire about Mazzy Fentan and are introduced to an armored halfling in full plate, with her dog Siegfried. She hangs out with several different mercenary groups, of particular note is the Flaming Fist group. Crugold notices that the knights aren’t thrilled about hearing about Thenn. Mazzy tells the group privately that Thenn isn’t exactly liked in these parts.

Mazzy offers the group a job. Her last crew died on this job, but a town to the east has giant problems. A Flaming Fist mercenary named Helman also offers Finn work, if he wants it. Mazzy also has information about Nixx. He is a pixie who used to work at the Tanner’s Table, he’s a bit of a drunk apparently.

Wesley asks Mazzy about a military caravan where an elf might have come into town, he decides to go to Treehome. At Treehome, he learns that the Captain of the Guard is an elf.

The party learned about two major publications in Llaedry:
- The Crown Crier – The ‘official’ word in Llaedry.
- The Street Hawk – ‘Un-official’ word in Llaedry, sometimes facts aren’t verified.

Gibley went to get information from the Street Hawk. He was given a scroll by some important-looking gnome and told to post the scroll. Gibley went to a bridge and stood on a soapbox, taking on the job of Town Crier. New news of a 5th victim, strangled in her own home, has been announced. The killer has a new name, ‘The Curfew Cutter’. While Gibley is doing announcements, he is given a slip of paper by a lady. In the slip of paper, there is a symbol of a pedestal with the book on top. Gibley gets a free ride from a river ferry person, who doesn’t elaborate on that the symbol is. He meets a barkeep, who makes conversation with him. Gibley thinks that the bar mirror is a 2-way mirror.

Sorsha goes to the Temple of Erythnul, looking to relieve herself and defile the area.

Sorsha kills Lord Pendleton with a final arrow after he yelled, ‘I don’t want to be him anymore!‘. Crugold wrote a note saying to ’check with Galen regarding Lord Pendleton’s death’, attached to a crossbow bolt and fired it into the room.

The party returned to Redford via another portal and went to visit Galen to report. Gibley is brought back to life and he remembers everything as a hazy dream. Grall and Sparky come to the temple and Grall asks to be killed and brought back. Sorsha kills Grall and the group decided to round up the rest of the people who were taken over by Rathonel (Lee, Old Madge, Lord Pendleton).

Gibley and Sorsha collected Lee, who was lying in a fetal position. They went to visit Old Madge in Dwarf Town. She asked that she stay in charge, as she believes that she would still be able to help the dwarves in Redford. Sorsha decided to let Madge stay in charge and they brought Lee back to the temple.

Finn and Crugold go with Galen to collect Lord Pendleton, where they discover that the Red Knights are trying to find out who murdered him. The note left by Lord Pendleton is a confession that he was not actually Lord Pendleton and was trying to escape. They bring Lord Pendleton’s body back to the temple for resurrection.

At the temple, Jenna approaches the party after bringing their dead to be resurrected from the dragon’s attack. She asked the party to not bring Grall back to life, as he would begin to start tormenting the women of the ex-Silver Unicorn again. Unfortunately, the dragon’s attack on the Silver Unicorn did not leave anything that could be used to bring Risul back to life. Sparky asks the party to bring Grall back to life, as he doesn’t feel like he would be a good leader of the Hangtooth gang. Sparky and Jenna decline running their own gang as well.

The party discusses the fate of all of Rathonel’s ex-pawns, as some felt like all should be brought back to life as they were, whereas others feel like changing who is brought back would bring positive change to Redford (Sorsha reveals that the Old, Old Madge would have just packed up and left Redford for the dwarven city of Underhall). During this discussion, Lord Pendleton is brought back to life and he talks with the party. He will be making sure the gangs do not get out of control and offers a knighthood to members of the party again. The group decides to not become Knights of Redford and tell Lord Pendleton that they will be leaving town soon.

It is ultimately decided that all except Old Madge will be restored. Jenna and ex-Silver Unicorn staff decide to come with the party to the capital of Oleand rather than be in danger of being hurt by Grall. A deal is made to resurrect Grall one week later, giving everyone time to leave town. Finn pays Jenna to get all of her group transportation arrangements to leave town with the party.

The party then sets out for the capital city of Llaedry, with a couple of things to do once they get there:

1. Finn wants to find Nixx in a tavern in Llaedry, for information about his Great Uncle Atticus.
2. The party is owed a reward from someone for rescuing Thenn from the Verdant Mother.
3. Wesley has a (half-elven?) sister who was in Llaedry.
4. Find Jenna and group a new home.

Six tries to trample the party, only injuring Wesley. Wesley heals Sorsha and she charges and kills Six.

Three blasts come up from below the water in river where the angel Illustria fell. Crugold recognizes these blasts as the fireball potion used by Wesley and the homunculi (plural of homunculus?) of Rathonel. Nine appears behind the party and attempts to tell them that Gibley was going to get better before going back on the deal. Finn throws shuriken at him, killing Nine before he can try and parley further. Crugold casts detect invisibility on the party. Finn spots another construct of Rathonel and kills that creature with shuriken as well.

Crugold passes 4 potions (Bull’s Strength, Bear Endurance, Magic Weapon, Bless weapon) to both Finn and Sorsha, as they prepare to tie rope to each other and have Finn jump into the river to find Illustria. Finn chugs his potions and leaps into the river and finds a secret foom under the murky water. He ties off the rope and tugs on it a few times, which signals the rest of the party to follow down.

The room is a cavern of hewn rock, with old tanks filled with various fluids. Once the party is united, Finn runs to an exit and notices that the passage behind the doorway changed to a different passage. The party tries another door and the passage changes as well. Crugold deduces that this is a trick by Rathonel to keep the party from descending. The party splits up between the two passages and are able to make it into a much larger room with working alchemical gear. Sorsha spots a body that looks like it will grow up to be Risul. Sorsha and Finn begin to wreck the lab, pushing over huge glass vats and vials.

A creature in robes with an elephant’s head (and those backward hands) comes out of invisibility, which is Rathonel. He is holding a large vial in one hand and threatening to pour a smaller vial into that one, telling the party that Gibley’s life hangs in the balance. Crugold casts grease on the large vial, but Rathonel is able to hang onto it. Sorsha attempts to sunder the large vial that Rathonel is holding, but misses. Rathonel casts a lightning bolt at the party, wounding everyone but Finn, who wasn’t in the line of fire. Finn charges Rathonel and grapples the arm that cast the lightning bolt, Rathonel drops the Gibley vial, which doesn’t break. Wesley heals Crugold and Sorsha breaks the Gibley vial. Finn continues to grapple Rathonel’s arm, twisting it further. Wesley attacks (and crits!) Rathonel. Sorsha hits Rathonel three times hard, killing him.

Finn loots Rathonel’s body, which has a 6 inch horn like Six, a kukra (curved knife), 4 potions, and robes – which he gives to Crugold to identify later. Sorsha goes into a back room and finds a milky colored portal/pool on the ground. In the room are 5 other vials, which are similar to the Gibley vial. In 3 of the 5 vials, there are items (eye, tusk, toe), which are thought to be Risul’s eye and Grall’s tusk. It is unknown about the toe. Sorsha breaks all of the vials. Crugold inpsects the milky pool and believes it to be how Rathonel traps the souls. He breaks the pool by pouring the potion that Rathonel had originally threatened the party with Gibley’s vial into the pool.

Wesley hears a skittering sound and begins to give chase into a study. Crugold casted a summon spell to have 5 vipers search the area. In the study, there is a molten pool of copper and one side of the room has been scorched. This is where Illustria has died. Crugold and Wesley begin to put all the remaining papers in the study into a Bag of Holding.

Sorsha leaves Rathonel’s lair, following tracks from the skittering creature to the set of pools near the river. She finds where the creature had escaped and looks in the pool. She sees that this is Lord Pendleton’s room. She sees Lord Pendleton enter the room quickly and begin to write a short letter. Afterwards, Pendleton begins to hastily pack for a trip. Finn retrieves Wesley and Crugold and everyone makes it to the pools. Sorsha lines up a shot with her bow and attacks Lord Pendleton through the portal twice. He waves at where the portal should be (even though he can’t actually see it) and yells, ‘I don’t want to be him anymore!’

Gibley attacks Crugold, wounding him twice. Crugold is able to escape by flying high into the air. Gibley attempts to escape by running back across the bridge. Crugold summons an evil leapord, who chases Gibley. Crugold also casts a spell to detect Gibley’s thoughts and is surprised to find that Gibley is actually plotting on killing the entire party. The leopard is able to incapacitate Gibley and Crugold ties him up.

Wesley, Sorcha and Finn are in the Copper Coronet talking about what to do next. They decide that they should get rid of Rathonel and decide to try and talk to Tia Sul for more information. Sorcha says something about Arch Hierophant Galen which causes Wesley to run out of the pub towards the temple of Pelor. Wesley comes outside just in time to see Crugold’s spell.

Finn and Sorcha leave the Copper Coronet while bickering about who should be talking to Tia Sul about Rathonel. Crugold contacts the party, who meet under the bridge and they all decide to leave town with Gibley.

Outside of town, they decide the next step would be to get Galen to come out to the party outside of town. Crugold and Wesley stay with Gibley to get their spells and Finn and Sorcha head back into town to fetch Galen.

Upon arrival to the Temple of Pelor, Sorsha and Finn are met by the priest on duty, who says that Galen cannot be bothered. They end up storming the Temple and Finn eventually makes it to Galen’s room. Sorsha explains to Galen that there is a Rakshasa named Rathonel who is running the town and must be killed. Galen understands the situation, but goes to the temple’s basement to cast a spell to get help. Sister Daphne is sent to get Wesley and Crugold.

Galen completes his ritual and summons an angel named Illustria. She informs everyone that there is indeed a demon and she can take anyone willing to where he is. Illustria also tells everyone that Gibley is not actually Gibley, but something controlling Gibley’s body. She purges the thing controlling Gibley from his body, but his soul is still held captive somewhere.

The remaining members of the party volunteer to fight Rathonel. Galen also volunteers, but is told that he is too important and is not able to go. Illustria then takes the party to Rathonel’s plane of existance.

Illustria informs the party that this plane is unique, and that the rules aren’t the same here. She then begins to scout the area and falls into the river. The party goes to the river to retrieve Illustria and a giant horned ape construct (with the number 6 on it’s chest) rises out of the water to fight the party.

Finn is hit several times by Six. Sorsha is able to wound Six a couple of times. Crugold tries to shock Six by casting a lightning spell on Squiggly and sending it after Six, but Squiggly is unable to penetrate its armor.

Sorsha was being prepped by a Lord and various ladies-in-waiting to be knighted. Finn is brought past her room by the old guard and the two are united. Finn tells her that her maul is ready and Old Madge wants a word with her. Sorsha and Finn leave the keep heading towards Old Town.

Crugold and Wesley pay a visit to Lily Highvale, who is taking over duties of Lord Commander since Harlan Thibeau is missing. Crugold offers to restore her leg with a scroll, which he claims is from the party’s adventures in Brightwater. She says she will think about it and get back to him within the week.

Gibley goes to the remains of the Silver Unicorn and talks with Jenna about settling down in Redford. Gibley asks about housing the water business at the Silver Unicorn. He also asks Jenna to talk to Risul when he is back. Jenna doesn’t have much to say without Risul’s blessing, she tries not to ask too many questions. Gibley resolves to contact Rathonel later in the evening.

Sorsha and Finn arrive at the Bronze Sun armory to retrieve her maul, now adamantine. The party is reunited. Gibley picks up his adamantine dagger and they learn that Graul is also having a couple adamantine daggers made. The armory also makes an offer on the dragon’s corpse, which the party sells for 24k gold after taking various trophies for themselves.

The party meets with Old Madge at the woodworking shop. She requests that Sorsha take the knighthood, because no dwarf has ever had that status in Redford. It would be a large amount of pride for the dwarves and Sorsha would be allowed to own land in Redford. Gibley asks Madge for a loan to restore the Temple of Olidimarra, of which details would be worked out later.

When it becomes later in the day, Sofia (the late Torin Tresail’s girlfriend) shows up and slaps Wesley. She was upset that the group didn’t kill Rathonel when they had the chance. She states that they were the best shot at doing this and now the portal has likely been moved. Sofia also believes that Rathonel found a way to have Torin and Galen cross paths, resulting in Torin’s death. It is revealed that the request to recover the lost necklace in Old Vikram was a way for Torin to possibly not become cursed.

Gibley and Crugold try to contact Rathonel by lighting a lantern on the bridge at night. The rest of the group went to the Copper Coronet. A follower of Rathonel, named Three, answers the call. They find an open storeroom on the bridge to talk.

Gibley proposes staying in Redford as a businessman to Three. Three asks which leader Gibley would like to work under and it is revealed that Lee is now one of Rathonel’s pawns as the leader of a new gang called ‘The Lucky Ones’. Gibley decides he will be leaving town. Three says that Rathonel will be enacting plans of his own and tries to shoo them away.

Gibley then attacks Three. Crugold casts Daze Monster, succeeds, and is subsequently freed by an unknown force. Three drinks a strange red potion and begins to cackle madly. They recognize this potion as the same one that Wesley drank to explode and wound the dragon. Crugold attempts to dispel the magic, fails and tries to run out, realizing the door to the storeroom is locked. Gibley attacks the door with a charge and slices the door lock with his new daggers. Crugold hits the homonculous with a fire spell, pushing it back into the room further. The two of them run from the room, closing the door behind them, and they hear a small explosion.

Gibley then stabs Crugold in the ribs (Bye Peter, see you in 3 weeks!)

Finn was brought back to life by Galen, the Arch Hierophant. As expected, Finn was very hungry. The group filled Finn on what had happened while he was dead.

Sorsha was whisked off by Redford nobility, to be cleaned up for being knighted.

Gibley went to the Temple of Olidimarra and found things were going well. He gathered Lee and a couple other kids to talk about a new business – Cheap, fresh water for the town from the cauldron that they found! Gibley and Lee begin to work on a plan where his group could provide water at bulk discounts to the dealers in town.

Crugold decided to see what the extent of the dragon’s damage was. He finds that the first place that was attacked was the Silver Unicorn. The building was basically destroyed and the staff is working on cleaning up the rubble. Wesley talked to Jenna, who reports that Risul has survived but Lily did not. Crugold was able to find out that Risul was actually killed by the dragon, but that Risul’s boss will be bringing him back to life.

Crugold and Wesley talk briefly about the ‘missing’ raise dead scrolls to try and bring the employees of the Silver Unicorn back to life. Wesley is summoned by a member of the church of Pelor to have a word with Galen.

Meanwhile, Finn is approached by a member of the Bronze Sun armory. The maul looks to have been finished. Old Madge requests Sorsha to come by and have a talk, as well as pick up her weapon.

Gibley decides to try and take the cauldron of water to the ex-lair of Torin Tresail, who has supposedly been found and killed by Galen. Gibley evades a couple of lightning bolt traps, but ends up alerting a guard. The guard discovers Finn, as Crugold and Gibley have hidden. Finn allows himself to be captured by the guard.

Crugold and Gibley find a small room where Torin Tresail used to live. There is a small complex of rooms that may serve as a hideout for Gibley, this is being discussed.

Wesley and Galen talk, where Galen tells Wesley that Torin has been dispatched. Galen wanted to ask about the symbol on Wesley’s forehead. This is a symbol of Corellon Laretheon, god of the elves. Galen believed Corellon to be a dead god, but maybe he isn’t after all…

But what about Finn though?

The party heads to the swamp where they believe the dragon’s horde is likely
to be stored. They tie up the horses, wade out to the low hill they remember
having an entrance previously. On the hill, they meet an old man who is
poking the ground with a staff. He hails the party and asks their business, to
which Gibley replies, “we are merely travelers passing through”. He says,
“same here,” but the party finds him suspicious.

Gibley pulls pokes at the ground with his shiethed rapier. Crugold makes
conversation with the old man. The old man tells them the water has a source
off in the distance. He also mentions there’s a lot of money down below, but
that it’s all flooded. The old man says he liked the area better when it
wasn’t so wet. Crugold offers to do something about the water and the old man
seems pleased. Conversation continues.

Crugold realizes that the man is an illusion. What they have been conversing
with is a swarm of several dozen six inch tall beings with a grasshopper
bottom and human top. Gibley starts freaking out and draws his daggers. The
horde draw their fiddles! Crugold tells Gibley to put his weapons away. One of
the beings plays a note which causes Gibley to dance. Half of the rest of the
creatures put away their tiny fiddles.

Sorcha sees the beings too. Crugold tries to clue Gibley in, but the illusion
is too strong for him. The swarm resume trying to convince the party to deal
with the water source thing.

Crugold casts a spell and starts wandering around (detect secret door), but he
doesn’t find anything. He then asks the group to show him where the water
source is. The horde wade into the water and indicate a direction and
distance.

Gibley asks the old man for a small bit of stick. He takes the stick and a
rope and heads under water. A minute later he surfaces. Sorcha hauls on the
rope and pulls up a cauldren which spews water. There’s a lid attached. Gibley
asks “the old man” about the details of this thing but they’re no help
(surprise!).

Next they work on going into the old hole. Gibley grabs a rope and gets some
buffs from Crugold. He dives in and then ends up getting pulled into a huge
cavern. Gibley ties the rope off on an iron ring on the wall and tugs it to
signal the other two to come down.

Crugold and Sorcha do eventually figure out Gibley’s message and head down.
There’s a huge mound of copper in the cavern. They all search around looking
for loot. Crugold finds a mask which allows him to smell valuable items.
Sorcha gets suspicious. Crugold also finds a scroll and some puzzle box. The
three of them dive through the loot looking for the good stuff.

The three of them are confused by the seemingly paultry horde. They spend a
lot more time scanning the area. Gibley finally comes up from the water with
the silver eye of Risul. Crugold scruitinizes it and deems it not worth much.
The three of them are a little unsatisfied but decide to head back.

They head back out through the way back. Crugold sends Squigly down to do
reconnaisance but she has nothing especially intriguing to say. The three
adventurers head back to Redford with their haul.

With all that taken care off, the three of them head back. They see the body
of a red knight that has been bitten apart.

On the way back to town they see some knights … doing something. They carry
the banner of the Knights of Thunder. They operate out of the capitol. They
were originally a small group of paladins who worshiped the god of valor.
Crugold hails them as they approach. Among the party of paladins is “Thehn”,
the guy we saved from the dragon. His arm has been restored and it now has a
tatoo of the Knights of Thunder.

Thehn greets the three of them. The two parties chat. There is some discussion
of recent events and then it is clarified that Sorcha delt the killing blows
to the dragon.

A “lord Cullen” sidles up to the party and talks about the proceedings to
follow. It … gets weird?

Upon return to town a “Galen” greets them. He’s the “arch-hirophant”. Sorcha
confronts him and presents the body parts. He tells the party to come inside. (! LOL)

Galen places the piece of Wesley’s skull on a table and covers the entire
table in a sheet. He spends several minutes performing a ritual. As he does so
the sheet rises and takes the form one would expect of a sheet draped over a
corpse. At the end of the ritual Galen pulls the sheet down to the body’s
shoulders and touches its forehead. Wesley awakes with a start and immediately
commences demanding to know the status of the party, the dragon, the Silver
Unicorn, the rest of Redford and so on.

Sorsha engaged in melee combat with the dragon, while the rest of the party was outside of the library. The party all saved against the dragon’s fear. The dragon cast a spell, which caused vines to cover the entrance to the library. Crugold used a potion on Finn to kill the vines, but Finn failed his roll and was entangled. Sorsha missed both of her attacks and took 36 points of damage from claws and a bite. Gibley had climbed the library wall and made it behind the dragon. He made a successful sneak attack and was hit by the dragon’s tail and wing for 26 hp, dropping him to 0 hp.

The dragon then breathed acid, which took Sorsha to -9 hp and Wesley down by 15 hp. Finn was able to save for 0 damage.

Crugold cast fly to get a bird’s eye view of the battle. He then cast Wall of Force to block the dragon’s advance on the party. Finn was unharmed by the acid breath weapon and rapidly moved to take Sorsha to safety outside of the library. The dragon felt along the Wall of Force until finding the edge and broke through the weaker wall to its side, taking it further into the library.

Wesley healed Sorsha to positive hitpoints. Crugold flew back to the party and gave Sorsha a potion of Bear’s Endurance. Finn gave Sorsha a potion of Cure Light and drank a potion of Magic Weapon. Sorsha drank the potion and moved to engage the dragon again. Wesley retreated after convincing Sorsha to retreat and battle the dragon under different circumstances.

Crugold cast Cloudkill over the dragon and Sorsha. Sorsha made a successful saving throw. The dragon rolled a 1, an automatic failure, and took 2 points of Con damage.

Finn tried to wrap his net over the dragon’s head, but missed. Sorsha missed again with her hammer and took an opportunity attack from the dragon, which damaged her for 15 hp. Sorsha moved out of range from the cloud.

The dragon did a full round of attacks, which ultimately ended up killing Finn by biting his head off.

Sorsha grabbed Finn’s body and began to retreat. While Wesley was retreating, he stopped to help an old lady who was on the ground. She looked up at him with a crooked grin and handed him a potion. Wesley noticed that she had backwards hands!

Wesley drank the potion and ran back towards the battle. His skin felt like it was on fire and Wesley was changed into a giant fire elemental. As the dragon was midair looking for Crugold, Wesley challenges it to battle. The dragon swooped toward Wesley’s fiery body and an explosion happened, which knocked Sorsha off her feet and an invisible Crugold back in the air.

After the explosion there is no sign of Wesley, but the dragon is gravely injured. Sorsha and Crugold resolved to finish it off. Sorsha received a potion from an invisible person with Crugold’s voice. Sorsha charged the dragon, doing 25 points of damage. Crugold cast Scorching Ray at the dragon, but missed. The Verdant Mother tried to retreat and was smashed again by Sorsha for another 12 points. The dragon manages to get back into the air and was shot through the eye by an Adamantine arrow from Sorsha. The dragon finally dies.

Sorsha found a piece of bone with Wesley’s moon symbol and wraps that up to hopefully resurrect Wesley later. Resurrection spells are costly, at 10000 gold (perhaps it is a good idea to also preserve Finn and Wesley’s bodies as well?). As the surviving members are discussing what to do with the dragon’s body (scales, bones, etc are worth money), a large contigent of Red Knights led by Lily Highvale come to the scene. The party is told that Lord Pendleton would like a word with them.

Sorsha and Crugold tell Lily that they have a job to do (finding the dragon’s treasure hoard) and will be back to deal with Lord Pendleton later.

A metal wyvern swooped down to attack the party and Five ran away to hide. Sorsha shot it with a bow, damaging its wing. Gibley threw a dagger at it, to no effect. Finn threw his net at it, entangling its head, but not bringing it down to the ground. The wyvern picked Sorsha up into the air and Finn threw Gibley onto the beast. The wyvern poisoned Gibley with its stinger and was then killed by Sorsha.

Another being, calling himself Nine, came to talk with the party about Rathonel. Nine told the party about Rathonel was an ‘administrator’ of another city, but the citizens revolted because things were too idyllic and perfect. Rathonel escaped his former master and eventually came to Redford. He believes that the citizens are incapable of handling their own affairs and has since been ‘administrating’ Redford through his servants.

Nine stated that Rathonel owed the party a debt, because of the prior rescue of Risul and uncovering a plot by the Tharn to attack Redford with the green dragon. Risul does object to being controlled by Rathonel, which is why he didn’t want to come back after his rescue.

Additionally, Nine tells the party that Gibley was given a piece of Olidammara’s power. When Gibley didn’t leave Redford, the avatar was weakened, which attracted a powerful creature that killed her. Rathonel had a curse put on Gibley to take Slim Slicer’s place in town as Jacob the Tinkerer.

Nine told the party that they could be returned unharmed to Redford, along with removing Gibley’s curse if the party decides to leave peacefully. In addition, the party will have no problems with the Red Guard, despite killing Lord Commander Harlan Thibeau.

The party agreed to leave and were given instructions to contacting Nine in the normal world:

- A visit to the Bronze Sun Armory will be taken as a sign of non-aggression
- Lighting a lantern on the bridge at night is a sign that the party wants to talk
- Lighting a lantern on the bridge during the day is a declaration of war

The party decided to not pursue the matter further and Nine took the party to a viewing pool, which was the way back to Redford. Because the beings (imps, followers of Rathonel) in the other dimension are able to hear conversations and observe, the party left town to talk about next steps:

1. Resupply in Redford
2. Go to Llaedry to find Finn’s uncle and try to talk to the King about Brightwater
3. Go to Old Vikram to get Lucien’s necklace

The party (minus Finn, who stayed outside of Redford) went back to town to do final tasks:

Gibley went to the Temple of Olidammara to pay homage. It is now occupied by a group of street youths and a small shrine is inside. As Gibley went to leave the temple, he briefly lost consciousness.

Wesley went to the Silver Unicorn to visit Risul to ask some final questions before leaving town. Risul told him that his sister is in Old Vikram.

Mess with the bull, get the horns

Sorsha stabbed Gibley, rendering him unconsicious for the fight with the guards. Harlan Thibeau and the Red Guard moved to attack the party. Sorsha took many hits and Finn went into a rage over the loss of Gibley.

Crugold summoned an Auroch (an infernal bull), which proceeded to stampede through the guards. The fight soon ended with Harlan incapacitated, a priest who surrendered ( protected by a Sanctuary spell), Wesley healing Gibley and one guard who escaped the mansion ( he was able to intimidate Finn out of his rage ).

Gibley searched Harlan and took a magical 2 handed sword (found to be +1 and a lawful weapon), a cloak of resistance, a set of full plate and some potions. Sorsha drank several healing potions and received an admonition from Finn for trying to kill Gibley.

A resurrection scroll was then given to the priest. Wesley took Harlan into the secret room and killed him, which opened the portal and teleported the party to another plane.

The party found themselves in a savannah with a red sky. Crugold and Wesley were unable to discern which plane they were on, unfortunately. Although there are no markers for the party to know direction, for illustration purposes:

East was woods of metallic trees
West was a river
South was a mountain

Near the party were pools of water, which upon inspection it was found that each pool could view Redford in a different location. Crugold immersed his head in a pool and found that he could hear conversation in Redford. This is how Rathonel is able to know about the goings-on in the town. Finn found tracks near the river, which might have been a boat or a large creature like a crocodile.

The party rested up and voted to check the mountain, which had little holes where Rathonel might be found. When the party reached the mountain, a voice who identified itself as Five started to converse with the party. The invisible Five revealed that there was also a One through Nine, who all acted as eyes for Rathonel.

Crugold went to cast Detect Invisibility as a piercing shriek was heard by all. Five exclaimed that a bird of prey was coming.

Gibley and Crugold were in the Temple of Pelor, hiding. Gibley disarmed the poison from the doorknob and kept some for later. Upon opening the door, they discovered a larder from which they took some food and magic candles. The candles were recognized as truth candles, Gibley replaced those with a few mundane candles of his own. Inside this room they found another door, which had 3 traps on it. Gibley managed to disarm 2/3 of the traps, but one of the traps caused a fiery explosion. It didn’t seem like anyone was alerted, however.

Behind this new door was a room full of scrolls. Two of the scrolls attacked Gibley and Crugold. After dispatching the two guardian scrolls, they looted the room. Then Crugold left a note saying that Rathonel did this and left an address to the mansion.

At the mansion, the party tried to gain access. Sorsha and Finn went around the back, knocking on the door to the servant’s entrance. A butler opened the back door and said that this was not Rathonel’s home, but rather some other noble. Sorsha barged into the mansion and Finn knocked out the poor butler, who was going to scream for help.

Outside the mansion, a couple of guards who were following the party in Uptown approached Wesley. Wesley tried to explain that they were there to slay a demon who was living there, but only confused/amused them. He ended up bribing them to go away. Gibley picked the lock to the gate of the mansion and Sorsha let the group inside the front door.

The party found the basement and a hidden room in a wall. Crugold tried to detect magic in this room and was temporarily dazzled by the amount of magic there. The Lord Commander of the Red Knights and a few guards arrived via the servant’s entrance and came downstairs to the basement. Harlan Thebeau demanded that the party give themselves up.

Sorsha made a move to try and kill Gibley so the party could be transported to Rathonel’s lair.

The party interrogated the Tharn shaman, who didn’t provide much information. She was an attendant of the Verdant Mother, a young adult green dragon who lives in an underground cave complex in the swamps to the west of Redford. The party handed over the shaman to Thibeau, who promised to give more information to the party if further interrogation was successful.

Jenna and Lily were running out of options to keep the Hangtooth gang away from the Silver Unicorn, so Risul was brought back into town. Risul is starting to recover. The secret tunnel out of town from the Silver Unicorn is no more.

Sorsha and Gibley paid a visit to Lucien Tresail, who told them to meet outside of town at midnight. The demon/puppet master controlling the gangs is a rakshasa named Rathonel. Their natural shapes are relatively humanoid although they are clearly not human, as they appear more as humanoid beasts, usually tigers. A rakshasa can be identified by their backwards hands, even if they are magically disguised.

Redford’s keep is unable to sustain the entire town, in the event of a siege. Lord Commander Harlan Thibeau asked the party to ask Dwarf Town if they would be willing to let in refugees, in case Redford was attacked.

The party decided to meet Lucien at midnight.

This week—-

Wesley, Sorsha, and Crugold talked to Old Madge, boss of the dwarven gang called The Family. The talk was largely unsuccessful, as Old Madge declined to open up Dwarf Town for refugees if the dragon and Tharn attacked. She also mentioned that she had briefly met Sorsha’s father a few decades ago. The party reported to Lord Commander Harlan Thibeau that Dwarf Town is not an option, should Redford become under attack.

Gibley talked to Risul, who seems to be recovering. Risul inquired about his missing firearm and seemed to believe that Gibley didn’t know where it was.

Party went to the meeting spot at midnight and talked with Lucien Tresail, who had two conditions for the party before divulging where the rakshasa was located:

1. Talk Lucien’s girlfriend Sophia into leaving town.

Wesley talked to Sophia and convinced her that leaving town temporarily was the safest option, as the rakshasa likely knows what the party is up to now.

2. Retrieve an old necklace from Old Vikram.

The necklace was owned by Lucien Tresail’s father and was considered to be the crown of the old Vikram kingdom. The necklace was last seen in Old Vikram, a city to the Northeast, currently used as a base for troops on the way to Tharn. Lucien asked that the necklace be delivered in a few years, provided that the party survives the encounter with the demon.

The party learned the demon is in Uptown Redford from Lucien. Inside the demon’s mansion, there is a circle which will open a portal into the Rathonel’s hideout. Unfortunately, to activate the portal, a sacrifice of someone good must be performed inside of the circle. A discussion happened with the party about who should be sacrificed. Finn decided he could not be a part of any sacrificing ritual and left the discussion to help Lucien’s girlfriend ready her horse to leave town.

Gibley and Crugold made a plan to raid the Church of Pelor for scrolls of resurrection, items usually held for richer citizens of Redford. They are currently sneaking around in the temple and are searching for the scrolls. The game ended with Gibley finding a potential door and he discovered the doorknob had poison on it.

"I'm recuperating!"

“That dragon could not have snuck across the border. They might have snuck it over as an egg.”

Dragon is too disinclined to expose itself. She intends to attack Redford.

Risul was already messed up when he showed up in the dungeon

Scruffian captured Risul, told his peers he thought Risul would be valuable

Finn and Sorcha protect Risul at the mouth of the tunnel. The rest of us head in.

He has a co-worker named Mazzy Fenton in Llaedry.

We meet with Lily, she brings us to Jenna and Lord Commander Harlan Thibeau.

We talk to Thibeau and Jenna. Thibeau and Thenn go conspire, Jenna joins the
rest of us in returning to Risul.

—

Back at the mouth of the tunnel Finn jumps down and starts chasing after Lee,
but doesn’t catch up with him.

—

Crugold makes his way from the Silver Unicorn to “the library”…

—

While we wait we sleep… except Gibley heads back in through the tunnel.

—

Krugold comes back and tells us about the rak… rakcah sahs whatever..
Backwards hands/palms out. Probably the puppet master?

—

We send Jenna back to the Silver Unicorn to tell Gibley to get a priest of
Pelor to remove some curses. Gibley meets with the priestess Daphne and she
says she needs a night to prepare a spell. He meets with her the next day and
they head out of town. Gibley starts to feel worse on the way out of town. She
notices and talks to him, then casts a spell on him. She seems confused by the
results.

Daphne examines Risul and says he seems to be in very poor shape. She casts
detect magic and break enchantment, but there’s no result. She also says it’s
not his body which is enchanted but his soul.

After Finn tugged on the rope, the party descended into the watery tunnel. At the end of the tunnel was a Tharn shaman chanting and shaking a rattle over a cauldron with a large group of kobolds. Finn hid in the fog cloud created by Squiggly and Crugold while waiting.

As the party descended into the tunnel, Crugold was hit by a dart by another Tharn on the surface. Crugold was able to tug on the rope to alert the group while doing battle. Sorsha came to assist and together they brought the Tharn down. The Tharn’s body was then put into the group’s bag of holding for study later.

Meanwhile in the underground room, Finn was forced to fight and knock out the shaman. Finn picked up the shaman’s rattle and attempted to keep the kobolds chanting and not noticing the loss of the shaman. Eventually, Gibley emerged from the water and Finn’s concentration faltered, starting a battle with the kobolds.

Finn and Gibley dispatched the horde and the group got back together in the underground room. A door was found, which had a passage way down to a few cages. One cage contained a very sickly hostage who had lost his hand. One-hand told us that there was a dragon further along in the underground complex called the ‘Verdant Mother’, who we believe is the master of the Tharn and kobolds in the area.

Another cage contained a weakened Risul, who no longer has his silver eye. Risul objected to being taken away and did not want to go back to the city. It was decided that it was better to go back to town with the Tharn shaman, Tharn body, One-hand, and Risul than to explore the dragon tunnel further.

The party freed both captives and made our way to the surface. As the party neared the town, Risul and Gibley seemed to suffer further ill effects of what we believe to be a curse.

From the adventure log of Wesley Cooper

We returned to the Silver Unicorn to talk to Jenna and/or Lily. There are some toughs outside. I talk to one of them but he’s an idiot so I go inside and find Jenna. She says she’s got it covered.

Next we met the stablemaster Bellim to buy two light horses, two ponies, a war horse for Sorcha, as well as the associated equipment, then headed out of town. Sorcha named her horse Granite. I named mine Dawn. After that we went to Allacard to purchase a spyglass.

Around nightfall we head out west. The next day we came to the bog and eventually Crugold spied a partially submerged barn through the spyglass. As we approached the barn, the depth of the water increased. We investigated the barn, seeing some houses to the south. In the barn we found a partially eaten horse and a horse skeleton. We headed back to dry ground to talk. Krugold went invisible and left to investigate from the air, or so he said. When he got back he told us about a lizard person he saw on the far side of a hill on the other side of the barn.

Krugold sent Squiggly down to investigate and learned that there is a cave under water and that it smelled of smoke. We sent Finn down with a rope. I cast a silence spell on him to muffle his exit from the water. Finn tied the rope off to a nearby ring mounted in the wall, then tugged on it. He saw a lizard person chanting at a cauldron and a bunch of smaller lizard people.

The adventure log is where you list the sessions and adventures your party has been on, but for now, we suggest doing a very light “story so far” post. Just give a brief overview of what the party has done up to this point. After each future session, create a new post detailing that night’s adventures.

One final tip: Don’t stress about making your Obsidian Portal campaign look perfect. Instead, just make it work for you and your group. If everyone is having fun, then you’re using Obsidian Portal exactly as it was designed, even if your adventure log isn’t always up to date or your characters don’t all have portrait pictures.